Video Instruction – Stopping a Promising Attack or Denying an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity
Critical match incidents include allowing/disallowing a goal, penalty and red card decisions. Teamwork between all members of the officiating crew is required to make the correct decision for these critical match incidents. In this video, several members of the officiating crew need to be involved to get this match critical decision correct.
Editor Note: There has been some discussion about the attacking player being in an offside position in this particular clip. While the offside decision is not the instructional intent of this clip, the snapshot below indicates the AR’s decision to allow play to continue is correct. Click on the image to see a broader angle of the play.
Instructions
When you select one of the decision choices below, you will unlock the "Get the NISOA decision" button.
While we generally welcome comments on our materials, please do not post your opinion/decision in the comments area. Commenting should be limited to the value of the clip or requests for clarification. Thank you for your cooperation.
NISOA Official Decision
In this clip, the tripping foul occurs outside the penalty area with all 4 DOGSO considerations having been met, therefore the defender shall be ejected per NCAA rule 12.5.6 and play is to be restarted with a direct free kick for the attacking team at the original spot of the foul.
DENYING AN OBVIOUS GOAL SCORING OPPORTUNITY (DOGSO)
Considerations for Denying an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity;
- Distance between the offense and the goal
- General direction of the play
- Likelihood of attacker keeping or gaining control of the ball
- Location and number of defenders
Location of the foul (inside or outside the penalty area) needs to be determined as well.
NCAA Rule 12.5.5 (Red card DOGSO handling, except by the goalkeeper); Denies the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by deliberately handing the ball, wherever the offense occurs.
Note: If a goalkeeper prevents a goal by handling the ball from a teammate's back pass, no misconduct shall be given and the restart is a IDFK from the spot where the goalkeeper handles the ball, unless inside the goal area, which the IDFK will be taken on the goal area line parallel to the spot of the infraction.
NCAA Rule 12.5.6 (Red card DOGSO outside the penalty are); denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity outside the penalty area by an offense punishable by a direct free kick.
NCAA Rule 12.5.7; Denies the opposing team an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by committing an offense against an opponent in the penalty area and the referee awards a penalty kick the offending player is cautioned unless:
- The offense is holding, pulling, or pushing
- The offending player does not attempt to play the ball or there is no possibility for the player making the challenge to play the ball; or
- The offense is one which is punishable by a red card wherever is occurs on the field of play (e.g. serious foul play, violent conduct, etc.). In all the above circumstances, the player is issued a red card.
In this clip, the tripping foul occurs outside the penalty area with all 4 DOGSO considerations having been met, therefore the defender shall be ejected per NCAA rule 12.5.6 and play is to be restarted with a direct free kick for the attacking team at the original spot of the foul.
- Distance between the offense and the goal – 22 yards from goal.
- General direction of the play – down the middle of the field, toward the goal.
- Likelihood of attacker keeping or gaining control of the ball – attacker has control.
- Location and number of defenders – no defenders between attacker and goalkeeper.
Teamwork
Whether electronic communication is being used or not, the crew has the responsibility to help the referee get the call right by providing information regarding the considerations. Many times, the referee has 3 pieces of the puzzle and needs one last piece in order to correctly determine is DOGSO occurred. Eye contact between the referee and the lead assistant referee is extremely important; if necessary, conference with your teammate(s) in order to receive all of the information needed to correctly determine if DOGSO occurred and the location of the foul (inside or outside the penalty area).
All crew members must expect the unexpected and be focused from start to finish, no matter the level of the collegiate match nor the gender of the teams involved.
Decisions: 1433
Your assessment is incorrect. The attacker has not established clear control of the ball. It does not appear she has even touched it. Therefore, this can not be considered an obvious goal scoring opportunity. This is a yellow card tactical foul.
Hi Jason,
If you stop the clip halfway between 00:06 – 00:07, you will notice the ball is in front of and at the feet of the attacker. The defender is challenging from behind with disregard for the consequences to the opponent.
The severity of the foul in itself is a caution but when you review the 4 considerations for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity by a direct free kick foul outside of the penalty area, all considerations have been met and the player shall be ejected under rule 12.5.6.
Thank you
-Lance
Hi Lance…Clearly a DOGSO situation with ejection, BUT…If you watch the clip, the player appears to be offside and the AR should have raised his flag and the resulting activity would be negated by the offside. That’s what I see.
Great clip, obvious DOGSO situation but the player is offside…… 🙁
Hi Joe…I just posted the frame when the ball is played by the attacking team. The AR’s decision is extremely difficult here. I don’t want to change the focus of the instruction here but this situation calls for the AR to keep the flag down because there is no clear image of the attacking player being in an offside position.
I was just curious, if it would be more constructive, to allow the clip to continue in order to show the card, if any, awarded by the referee in this match and to solicit responses from the referee community; whether we agree/disagree or would have done something different.
Jamie,
Thanks for your comment. While i understand your interest in what this referee did, the intent of our training materials is not to evaluate referee, but rather identify situations that you can make your decision without the influence of the referee of that particular incident. It is a much better learning environment for you to make your decision in the absence of the referee’s.
Todd Abraham
NISOA Sr. Director of Instruction
Request for clarification:
From this view angle of the clip, one can see a full body length lead at point of serve to the attacking player who was fouled, so she was obviously offside. By her own action she denied her own Goal Scoring Opportunity PRIOR to receiving this hard physical foul. AR did not flag it (Wait and See to contact ball?)
Please explain how the defender then met that DOGSO criteria (after the fact of offsides) in the commission of this Cautionable offense. Thank you.
Hi Dan,
If you pause the clip at the moment the ball leaves the attacker’s foot as she serves the ball toward the penalty area (around 00:04 on the timestamp), you will notice the teammate of attacker appears to be even with the nearest defender (and quite possibly another defender at the top of the screen). When it is this close, we recommend keeping the flag down due to the flash-lag effect because often times, the attacker may appear to be offside, but in actuality, they are onside. This is best practice for Assistant Referees when working all levels of matches.
Hope this helps!
Lance